Holy Trinity parish in Braamfontein hosts regular lectures on a range of topical issues. On September 3 I attended a talk presented by Constitutional Court Judge Edwin Cameron, who spoke about “Sexual orientation and the South African Constitution”. The lecture was attended by more than 50 people.
In his talk, Judge Cameron provided fascinating insights into the multi-party negotations that culminated in the adoption of South Africa’s democratic Constitution, especially the prohibition, in the Bill of Rights, of unfair discrimination against any person on account of his or her sexual orientation.
While his presentation focused on socio-legal aspects of discrimination against homosexual people, and he had no pretensions to being an expert on matters of religious doctrine, he made no secret of the fact that he disagrees with the Catholic Church’s approach to homosexuality. Naturally, this resulted in some of his listeners expressing firm and divergent views on the matter.
I think the Jesuit fathers at Holy Trinity parish are to be commended for arranging lectures such as this. In particular, the parish priest, Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, deserves credit for the sensitive way he introduced and concluded the discussion on this controversial topic.
As Catholics, we should not be averse to confronting difficult questions regarding our Church’s relationship with, and attitude to, various sectors of the community. Also, for the Church to turn its back on marginalised and stigmatised groups in our society would be inconsistent with the teachings of Our Lord.
Only through open-minded discussion and a single-minded pursuit of truth and love can we ensure that we will act in accordance with those teachings.
Daniel Pretorius, Johannesburg
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